My Review:

Ever wondered why some people seem to achieve so much, yet they have the same amount of time available to them – 24 hours – as we all do? Chris Bailey shares in his book “The Productivity Project”tips and tricks that will teach you the same deliberate strategies that the most productive people use, and you may be missing out on. While these tips are crucial for someone working from home or are a business owner, they apply to anyone who wants to achieve success in all areas of their life.

But are these tips and tricks actually practical, and workable?

After all, the point of reading a non-fiction book, in my opinion, is to learn something practical. Knowledge is only the beginning of power, the true power lies in the steps that you take with that knowledge. But, when taught lessons via books like The Productivity Project, this knowledge is only as good as your ability to turn it in actual action steps, which you can take.

Thankfully, Chris Bailey did a superb job in presenting information you can actually use.

Filled with strategies, but packaged to be relatable and with heart, the Author manages with The Productivity Project to create a guidebook on what you should do – or should not do – in order to get more stuff done. This book is not a book that will teach you how to organize your time and space to be more efficient – for that you should read David Allen’s classic book Getting Things Done – however, it will teach you steps that you can easily take, and most likely already know that you should take, in order to be your most successful self.

All strategies build in one way or the other upon those components, and present to the reader action steps on how to develop them equally, and purposely.

Some of those strategies are:

Deep Meaningful Reason

Not All Tasks Are Created Equal

Work Smarter

Energy Enlightenment

Removing The Unimportant

The Art of Doing One Thing

and many, many more!

I personally found the concept of doing one thing (and ending multitasking for good) the most enlightening part of this book, that practically impacted how much I get done. Other strategies are a lot more obvious, but still practical, such as removing the unimportant, but it seems like this book gives you the permission and the drive to do that which you already know you should do, with Chris as your coach, and the person who is cheering you on.

If you take the action steps seriously described in this book seriously, then you have a true blueprint in front of you – begging you to take action, and move toward your goals – once and for all.

Favorite Quote:

Productivity is not about doing more things, it is about doing the right things.

Book Rating:

5 out of 5 Stars

Book Summary:

A fresh, personal, and entertaining exploration of a topic that concerns all of us: how to be more productive at work and in every facet of our lives.
Chris Bailey turned down lucrative job offers to pursue a lifelong dream—to spend a year performing a deep dive experiment into the pursuit of productivity, a subject he had been enamored with since he was a teenager. After obtaining his business degree, he created a blog to chronicle a year-long series of productivity experiments he conducted on himself, where he also continued his research and interviews with some of the world’s foremost experts, from Charles Duhigg to David Allen. Among the experiments that he tackled: Bailey went several weeks with getting by on little to no sleep; he cut out caffeine and sugar; he lived in total isolation for 10 days; he used his smartphone for just an hour a day for three months; he gained ten pounds of muscle mass; he stretched his work week to 90 hours; a late riser, he got up at 5:30 every morning for three months—all the while monitoring the impact of his experiments on the quality and quantity of his work.

The Productivity Project—and the lessons Chris learned—are the result of that year-long journey. Among the counterintuitive insights Chris Bailey will teach you:
· slowing down to work more deliberately;
· shrinking or eliminating the unimportant;
· the rule of three;
· Striving for imperfection;
· scheduling less time for important tasks;
· the 20-second rule to distract yourself from the inevitable distractions;
· and the concept of productive procrastination.
In an eye-opening and thoroughly engaging read, Bailey offers a treasure trove of insights and over 25 best practices that will help you accomplish more.

About the Author:

Chris Bailey, a graduate of Carleton University in Ottawa, wrote over 216,000 words on the subject of productivity on his blog, A Year of Productivity, during a yearlong productivity project where he conducted intensive research, as well as dozens of productivity experiments on himself to discover how to become as productive as possible. To date, he has written hundreds of articles on the subject and has garnered coverage in media as diverse as the New York Times, the Huffington Post, New York magazine, TED, Fast Company, and Lifehacker.

1 thought on “How To Be More Productive When Working From Home And More: The Productivity Project by Chris Bailey”

Very insightful review. This sounds like a great book to help me get more focused on my goals. I struggle with multi-tasking. Although I know it does not make me productive, multi-tasking is a long-time habit that I used to be so proud of and am having difficulty shedding from my habits.
I will definitely put this book on my wish list. Thanks for bringing it to my attention and for your valuable review.